Singh set to give SA an Olympic double
MOVIE mogul Anant Singh is set to be elected a member of the International Olympic Committee.
The election is expected to be straightforward and will mean that, for the first time, South Africa will have two IOC members. The other is Sam Ramsamy.
Singh is one of eight people nominated for election by the body’s general assembly.
Ramsamy said the IOC allowed a maximum of 115 members, with the actual number at 99 after the assembly votes in the days before the Games start on August 6.
“[Singh] is being proposed for his expertise in cinema,” said Ramsamy, adding that nominated candidates had previously been voted in.
Singh is not new to the IOC, being a member of its channel commission.
Singh said an Olympic channel, largely internet based, would be launched at the Rio Games.
His first visit to the IOC was in 1997, when he was part of a delegation including Nelson Mandela that presented Cape Town’s bid for the 2004 Olympics.
Singh said he had put that presentation together.
The filmmaker attended his first Olympics in 1984.
Some of his movies have had strong sports themes, such as More Than Just a Game and The Long Run. He made documentaries about Olympic champions Penny Heyns and Josia Thugwane.
Singh said he would love to watch some South Africans at the Rio Games, but had yet to finalise his itinerary.
The other non-sport people are Luis Moreno, a banker and former Colombian ambassador to the US, and Nita Ambani, founder of the Reliance Foundation.
The others are sports officials.